There are a couple of arranged marriages where someone else arranges it for you, and you don’t have a choice. Also, there’s the marriage of convenience, where two characters realize it is mutually beneficial for them to marry because of property laws and family inheritance. They both have something the other one wants.
Arranged marriages mostly happen in Asia because Asians are mostly religious and superstitious. Here you find that love, marriage, or living relationship is still taboo. But in western culture, this is very common. So culture and country-wise marriage vary.
15 Books About Arranged Marriage
In the romance genre, arranged marriage is one of the exciting and popular tropes. Romance readers feel thrilling while reading this trope because we get to see the mind game between two different people or couples.
The couple falls in love or hates each other after marriage, depending on the mutual connection. I will review 15 books about arranged marriage that give you excitement, suspense, action, and emotions. Let’s read!
1. A Kingdom of Dreams (Westmoreland Saga)
This book is about a girl named Jennifer and a guy named Royce. They are from warring families and countries. Jennifer is Scottish, and her family and homelands are under threat by the British. Royce gets in trouble for a few things, and Jennifer’s in trouble for a few things. She, at one point, is captured by him and then finds out that she has to marry him, and things don’t go so well for them. For a while, this one was tough to read.
This is not a historical rom-com romance. Jennifer is so strong and brave, and she’s living in a time where nobody gives a crap. She’s also very young, and she has been maligned by her older half-brother, who has made her look foolish. Then she gets married to an Englishman, which makes her not high up in their eyes. Also, she is desperate to help her clan and her family.
Jennifer would do anything for her family, including marrying someone she thinks wants to hurt her. He’s angry, but he wouldn’t do that. It’s one of those that happened a lot in historical romances. They would threaten abuse. But this was such a beautiful story. The way it ended was I cried. But Jennifer has a kingdom of dreams in mind, and Royce will find a way to give it to her.
Author: Judith McNaught
Average Customer Review: (4.6 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Scottish Historical Romance
Available: Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback | Pocket Book
2. The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient)
This one is a mix of the marriage of convenience arranged marriage. The story is about Chi, who has autism, and his mother is trying to find him a wife. So she goes back to Vietnam and finds Esme, a single mother who is down on her luck. She’s a hotel maid, and Chi’s mother brings her back and asks her to seduce her son and marry him by the end of the summer.
It shows a beautiful relationship blooming. She knows someone who doesn’t know that they can love learning what love is. Although this one is still a choice about the marriage, the purpose of her getting brought there is to marry Chi. I’ve seen it on a few lists as an arranged marriage as well, but it is still also a slow burn.
Author: Helen Hoang
Average Customer Review: (4.4 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Multicultural & Interracial Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
3. The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles)
The story follows a girl named Lia. This one starts with an arranged marriage between Lia and the prince of another country. Further, it’s about her running away from that, which is a pretty rash decision and not the brightest idea she’s ever had. But she’s going to take her destiny into her own hands and run away.
The prince that she ditches wants to find out why she ran away. There’s also an assassin being sent by a neighboring country who’s supposed to find her and eliminate her, so this marriage can’t happen. Both men are sent after her, and it isn’t until about 70 percent into the novel. Lia is my top protagonist ever. She is so brave and smart. She ends up realizing that she’s the only one who can save her country.
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Average Customer Review: (4.5 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Science Fiction & Dystopian Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
4. The Wild Heir (Nordic Royals)
That series has an age gap in it. It has enemies to lovers and second chance romance. This one is about one of the princes of the Nordic countries, who he’s been living a playboy lifestyle, and he has to marry a princess from one of the other countries. Also, she’s only willing to do it if he can prove that he’ll be faithful.
So they meet each other knowing that they’re supposed to get married soon, but they are building their relationship together. It’s a little bit like Princess Diary vibe. You get to see both the arranged marriage and the romance that they made gradually.
Author: Karina Halle
Average Customer Review: (4.5 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Family Saga Fiction, College Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
5. The Marriage Contract (The O’Malleys)
This book is a modern-day arranged marriage, but that one’s still a marriage of convenience for the couple. It so happens that they do like each other. So this is about two different mob families trying to ally. Their two oldest children have to get married, and instead of the normal, this is an enemy to lovers. These two want to make a good go of it.
So even though their families want them to be more suspicious of each other. They start dating before getting married, and they want it to succeed. There’s a huge cliffhanger for the next entry in the series. At the time, it had to do with the kidnapping. So you get to see suspense and thrilling moments as well as romance.
Author: Katee Robert
Average Customer Review: (4.2 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Women’s Domestic Life Fiction
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Mass Market Paperback | Kindle | Audio CD
6. Serpent & Dove
It’s about a witch (Louise), and it’s set in a fantasy version of revolutionary Paris. She is accused of witchcraft, but she is run by other witches trying to kill her. So when she’s in a situation where she’s offered either mary this witch hunter and live a good life or die. Louise chooses to marry the witch hunter because she’s living in a church, and the witches will not come here. But she is planning to escape as soon as she can. She only thinks she didn’t count on is the husband she gets is so sexy and amazing.
It’s usually used very flowery, vague terms. In this, these people are married in chapter four of the book, and it’s about hate to love of this forced marriage and how it ends up being something good later on. The witch hunter wasn’t planning to have a wife, even though some of them will take a wife, and he gets forced to take a wife. But he was never planning, and he loved somebody else. Now he’s married to Louise, whom he considers evil until he gets to know her.
Author: Shelby Mahurin
Average Customer Review: (4.5 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Fairy Tale & Folklore Adaptations, Dystopian Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | MP3 CD
7. Talon (Ashes & Embers)
Talon’s mom is a psychologist, and she’s doing this experiment where she sets the couples up with each other, and they get married. Then they’re going to live together for six months, but it was a compatibility setup. So she had them answer all of these questions. Then she gave them the different tasks.
If they stay married for a certain amount of time, they each get paid out, and talents start doing it for a payout. Talon is a rock star. He doesn’t need that, but Asia does need the payout as well, as she’s looking for someone to love. It’s a slow burn for them getting married because they’re didn’t jump into bed with each other right away.
Author: Carian Cole
Average Customer Review: (4.7 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Contemporary Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle | Audio CD
8. A Worthy Opponent (Wicked Villains)
In this book, we have Tink, who had sold herself into a working contract with Hades for the last couple of years to escape her abusive boyfriend, Peter Pan. The way this world is run is mob-ish. Villains and different fairytale characters run different territories.
So the Disney villains made sexual. Tink is getting kicked out of the otherworld because Hades has looked for her, given her a job, helped free her. She is one of the sassiest of misses you will ever find. Hades kicked Peter Pan out of their territory, but now Peter is back. Tink is vulnerable, and Peter is very manipulative and abusive to her. It’s going to be coming back to get her. So Hook proposes to take control of this territory and keep safe from Peter, but Tink has to marry him.
Author: Katee Robert
Average Customer Review: (4.6 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle
9. Bound by Hatred (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles)
It’s about Matteo and Gianna. Gianna’s been on the run for six months from her family because she doesn’t want to be a part of the mob anymore. So she’s on the run and supposed to marry Matteo, and she does not want to arrange marriage with the villain. They’ve had a sparky relationship in the other two books.
Matteo has been sent to find her, and it’s double-edged. He made this arrangement of their marriage happen because he wanted her. Also, the family believes that he’ll be the most brutal with her and will punish her for running away and embarrassing them.
So Matteo knows that he needs to find her before anyone else because he loves her. He also doesn’t want one of the other families to find her. It’s extra passionate because they know their sexual chemistry. Gianna is attracted to him, and he continually tries to prove to her how much he cares while still trying to be the man.
Author: Cora Reilly
Average Customer Review: (4.4 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Erotic Fiction
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle
10. The Initiation (Filthy Rich Americans)
This book is about a girl (Marist) sold to another family. They are called this series is called Filthy Rich Americans, and she is being sold into a relationship with this other family, to Royce Hale. The whole thing with this is that this isn’t business or the mob. But this is in business, and the father of her future father-in-law, he has a thing for her. He wants her to marry his son because he wants her under his roof.
There’s a beautiful relationship between the couple in this book, but it has many lies and secrets going on. Also, it’s a series with a lot of dirty dealing. It is very sexy, almost erotic, but also suspenseful. But this arranged marriage is where I feel they become a team together because they have chemistry.
Author: Nikki Sloane
Average Customer Review: (4.2 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Family Saga Fiction
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle
11. Confess (Sin City Salvation)
Gypsy Blue is a confidence trickster. She has been making money for her and her sister by getting men to love her and then catching them, doing something wrong, and taking all their money. But she gets caught, and she gets gifted in a different way. It is also an age-gap romance. Lucian West is a lawyer. He’s come from the rough side of the tracks, and he likes to take care of people. But he’s also a daddy.
Lucian coerces Gypsy into marrying him, and he says, You’re going to stay married to me for a year. At the end of this, she’ll get a settlement and start your life over. But she doesn’t want to do this. But she doesn’t have a choice. So, this one is a little twisted because she’s not willingly entering into this. You’ll see how this man uses its elements to help this person. But it’s not a consensual idea, some relationship because she doesn’t agree to that part of it. There are some fun, sexy ones that happen. But there are some suspense elements in this one as well.
Author: A. Zavarelli
Average Customer Review: (4.4 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Women’s Fiction, College Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle
12. Marriage for One
This is another arranged marrying and marriage of convenience book where Rose has a coffee shop. She wanted to put up, and she’s in some financial trouble. Jack is the lawyer. He agrees to marry her to keep the deed to this place. Then they’re planning to be married for a certain amount of time. But Jack can’t do it because he wants to help with everything.
Jack is getting egged to get married, and he wants to become a partner in his firm, and having a wife will help him do that. But this one has some other fun tropes. Somehow Rose gets sick, and Jack takes care of her. Also, he shows up at her coffee shop and helps her build things. Slowly, they fall for each other, and it’s so cute.
Author: Ella Maise
Average Customer Review: (4.3 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Romantic Comedy
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle | Audio CD
13. Devil in Winter (Wallflowers)
This is a marriage of convenience that makes me burn. Sebastian is the devil. If you read the series in order, you will hate this guy and understand why he is the devil because he has kidnapped someone. He would assault someone because he’s desperate to get married. Evie is shy and sweet, but she’s in trouble. Her father runs a gambling den, and he’s very sick. He’s dying, and Evie’s family keeps her away from her father. This family has abused her.
Evie knows that Sebastian is desperate enough for her family’s money, which is another reason they try to control who she’s with and who she marries. So she goes to Sebastian and gives him money and proposes to marry. They consummate the marriage to make it legal. Then Sebastian goes about changing every perspective you have of him.
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Average Customer Review: (4.6 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Regency Romances
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
14. Marrying Winterborne (The Ravenels)
We have Rhys Winterbourne, who has seen the same situation as Sebastian Saint Vincent. We see him not only talk about the assault, but he does assault Helen’s sister-in-law. He has been previously engaged to Helen, and Helen is a bit of a wallflower. She’s very quiet easily pushed over, but she liked Rhys. Rhys owns department stores all over the place. He is uber-rich and fell for Helen when she nursed him back to health in the first book, and he wanted to marry her.
Helen was feeling overwhelmed by him. So that’s the thing that happened with Kate. Rhys assaults Kate. Helen sneaks into his home at the department store, and she comes to see him. It was planned because she had felt this great connection with him. Then he wanted to sweep her away with the money. That’s what he wanted to do is throw money at it so he would feel worthy because he is not a duke.
So this is almost a second chance situation, but they weren’t their true selves the first time they caught it. I love when they get a second chance in here.
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Average Customer Review: (4.6 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Victorian Historical Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
15. When a Scot Ties the Knot (Castles Ever After)
The story follows Madeline Gracechurch, and she makes up a pen pal who is a Scottish man named Captain MacKenzie. She makes everything up, and she wrote letters to him for years. Then she pretended to break up with him to make her family think she was in love. But it didn’t work out. So they would leave her alone and not make her have a season or talk to people because she’s super shy.
Captain MacKenzie received these letters from this woman because she was sending them. He fell in love with her through these letters. So he comes back with his group of men whose lands have been taken over. Madeline has been gifted a castle because that happens to all the women in the castle, ever after a series.
MacKenzie coerces her into marrying him because he needs the money for his lands and people, who came back to nothing after fighting for England. They had everything taken from them. So this is another case of a problematic hero who wants an arranged marriage to save his people.
Author: Tessa Dare
Average Customer Review: (4.5 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Scottish Historical Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Mass Market Paperback | Kindle | Audio CD
Read More Similar Books: 7 Books For Marriages In Trouble
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